The Conflict Within

The Conflict Within (The War with Me) Me vs Me(Getting out of my Own Way)

Matthew 28:16-20 “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

2 Corinthians 7:5-7 “For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.”

Introduction:

The headlines read “Tyson vs. Tyson.” It was a 1987 newspaper article about Mike Tyson, once the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Two years earlier Tyson, at the age of 21, had become the youngest man in history to hold that title.

Tyson had won all thirty-seven of his professional fights, thirty-three of them by knockouts, and eighteen of them in the first round. And with at least ten good years before him, most people who knew boxing believed Tyson could dominate boxing as no other fighter before him. But, according to Jose Torres, a longtime friend, Tyson was beset with so many problems in his personal life that he was a “walking time bomb.”

A product of Brooklyn’s toughest neighborhood, he spent time in his early life in several detention centers. According to Torres, he was a street brawler, a reckless driver, a heavy drinker, and a womanizer who boasted of his conquest over women, both sexually and physically but, who, at the same time, had a strong dependence on others. Then Torres, citing Tyson’s stormy personal life, made an interesting observation: “The man who will beat Tyson isn’t a top-ten contender. It isn’t Evander Holyfield or Ray Mercer, or even George Foreman. The man who will beat Mike Tyson is Mike Tyson.” Then he added, “The only real challenge in sight for Tyson is his fight within.”

Sure enough, Torres was right. At the height of his career, in February 1990, Tyson was knocked out by an unheard-of Buster Douglas. A victim, by his own admission, of too much alcohol and too many women. Tyson is back.

As this book goes to the typesetter, Tyson is in hot water again. After a highly publicized trial in Indianapolis, Tyson has been convicted of raping a Miss Black America contestant.

There is a movie called Platoon. It was about the United States’s involvement in the Vietnam War. It depicted not only the cruel and inhumane way some of our soldiers treated the enemy, but also how brutally they treated one another. In the closing scene, one of the American soldiers who survived the war was reflecting on his experiences in Vietnam, and he said, “I think now, as I look back, we didn’t fight the enemy, we fought ourselves. The real enemy was within us.”

Isn’t that how it most often is? The greatest enemy we have is ourselves, and the biggest battles we fight are within. Any realistic dealing with conflict must begin with ourselves. For as Dag Hammarskjold, former general secretary of the United Nations, observed, “A man at war with himself will be at war with everyone else.”

If we are to live together in peace and harmony in our churches we must first be at peace with ourselves. Otherwise we may allow our inner conflicts to spill over into our other relationships. The apostle Paul was experiencing some of these inner conflicts when he wrote,

“For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears” (2 Cor. 7:5). Paul was there giving a report on his missionary movements and emotions. He had been in Troas. From there he had sent Titus to Corinth with a strongly worded letter to that troubled church. In time, Paul grew restless waiting for Titus to return with a situation report. Would the church at Corinth receive him and repent, or would they reject Paul and his message? Would his work in Corinth be in vain? How would the church he loved respond? Anxious, worried, afraid, he decided to cross the Aegean Sea into Macedonia to meet Titus as he returned.

In these verses he tells us what happened when he arrived there. He found no rest, no relaxation, no relief from either outward strife or inward stress. “We were,” he said, “troubled on every side.” Everywhere Paul turned he faced constant, straining, exhausting pressure. He summed up his situation by saying, “Without were fightings, within were fears.” In these words Paul tells us he actually fought battles on two fronts: one was on the outside and the other on the inside. One was external and the other, internal. He struggled outwardly with his enemies and inwardly with his emotions.

Without there were fightings—wranglings, strifes, persecutions. Within there were fears, battles he fought within himself. I can identify with that, can’t you? While we all face some opposition from without occasionally, our biggest battles are within. There are not many people out to get us. Only occasionally is there someone who wants to hurt us, fire us, run us off. As Bill O’Brien put it, “The greatest indictment against Christians today is that no one wants to crucify us.” But inwardly, we do continually battle with our emotions. The word translated “fears” is the Greek word for “phobias” (phobos). It suggests the idea of alarm, terror, and anxiety. Was Paul afraid? Yes! He was a human being, and to be human is to experience fears.

The difference among people is not that some are afraid and others are not. The difference is that some are mastered by their fears and others are not. What was Paul afraid of? Perhaps of bodily harm. To be a missionary in the first-century world (and even now) was to be engaged in hazardous work. Perhaps he was afraid of failure—that his work in Corinth had been in vain. Paul seemed to have been haunted by the fear that he had run in vain or that he would have labored in vain.

Perhaps he was afraid of rejection, that his hard-hitting letter to the Corinthian church had been too severe and it might cause them to reject him. We cannot be exactly sure of what Paul was afraid of. We can only know he was afraid for he told us so. There are all sorts of emotions and feelings that well up within us. We struggle with pride and passion, with anger and anxiety, with doubt and depression, with envy and inferiority.

But of all these emotions, fear, I believe, is the most common and the most destructive. If we could just make our lives off-limits to fear, many of our illnesses would vanish. And we would live happier and healthier lives. Fear has many faces. At times it wears the face of danger. At times it wears the face of rejection. At times it wears the face of failure or inadequacy. And at times it wears the face of insignificance.

What are the greatest fears that confront ministers today? There are 3 that I believe haunt every servant of God.

Fear of being Remarkable:

The fear of failure. Being remarkable, being the greatest, the goat, the strongest, the go to, the main guy. If we cant be the greatest we normally leave it undone, leave that road untraveled.

Listen God aint looking for the Greatest, He is looking for the willing. Since we cant sing like Whitney , Preach like Spurgon , Evangelize like Billy Graham, Pack a house like TD Jakes, we tend to think there is no use for you in the kingdom. Think that there is no part to play.

Listen God aint looking for Steller but Servicable. (Servant) Say it how you say it.

If we are going to do what God has destined us to do you cant fear failure. Everything you want from God is on the other side of Fear.

Fear has changed the Great Commisson to the Great Ommison.

Basic Bible Sermons on Handling Conflict (You Don’t Have to Be Remarkable)

How do we deal with the fear of failure? In Dr. Daniel Levinson’s book, In Seasons of a Man’s Life, he wrote, “When a man no longer feels he must be remarkable, he is more free to be himself and work according to his own wishes and talents.”

Basic Bible Sermons on Handling Conflict (You Don’t Have to Be Remarkable)

Have you discovered yet that you don’t have to be remarkable, that God does not compare us to others, that you can fail at times without being a failure, and that failure doesn’t have to be final? Knowing those things sets us free to struggle to be our best, not necessarily the best.

Listen God has put all the pressure on himself. It’s on us to obey and proclaim his Greatness.

Fear of Rejection:

Let’s be honest not only do we want to be successful in our campaign, we also want to be liked, loved and appreciated.

There is a little of Teddy Roosevelt in most of us. His son once said of him “ Father always wanted to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral. Truth is you can say that about majority of us. The Bride get all the attention and the corpse get all the kind words.

While I wish I can tell you there will be a thank you on every corner, a parade for your patience, and celebration for your concern. Truth is criticism awaits you.

The more you want to make the community better, there are some in the same community will reject your help. Some who are bleeding will refuse medical attention.

Some who are crying will refuse comfort.

Some who are lost refuse to be found.

Some who are on fire refuse to be extingushed.

And your Good with be spat on.

Paul dealt with it in the church. But its not limited to the church. Criticism and Christians being rejected is all over.

Basic Bible Sermons on Handling Conflict Giving a Body Slam to the Body of Christ

John Wooden, as you are now aware, was one of my coaching heroes. He coached UCLA successfully year after year, setting tremendous records. And, most remarkable of all, he did it during the turbulent years from 1964 until 1975. After seven championships in a row, Wooden’s team lost in 1974. The next year they regained the national championship. On the floor of the San Diego Sports Arena, in 1975, after Wooden had won his last NCAA title, a booster sought him out and exulted, “Great victory, John. It made up for you letting us down last year.” Can you believe that? But that’s the way people can be about anything.

Don’t take much to be petty, to criticize something or someone.

Listen whatever you do the feeling of rejection comes with it, it is inevitable. It is no respector of person.

Rejection didnt skip Moses for taking on too much work.

Pharisees criticzed Jesus as being :beside Himself”

Judaizers criticized Paul for promoting himself.

We must learn to deal with rejection with criticism.

The commission wasnt based on the response of the world. The commission is based on the obedience of the redeemed.

Fear The Report:

Paul was waiting on a report from Titus from the Church in Corinth. Didnt know how they would respond to the firm rebuke he gave because of there carnal living.

Based on the inadequacies and critisim rejection… We may be a little concern with the report. How many did we connect with. The connection may not be visible in the pew. The results arent in our hands. Only our response to Gods word. The results are in Gods hands. Most fear the report. The percentages. The ratio.

Verse 6 helps with that.

2 cor. 7:6 “6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus,”

Basic Bible Sermons on Handling Conflict No Way to Make a Living

Where can we find help for the fears within as well as the fightings without? Paul gives us the answer, “Nevertheless, God that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus” (2 Cor. 7:6). The word comfort is the Greek word parakleo that means “to come beside.” Paul was saying that in his hour of need the Lord came beside him, strengthened, and sustained him. That is always the case. When the disciples were caught in the storm crossing the Sea of Galilee our Lord came alongside them. When the disciples walked along the road to Emmaus following Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, wringing their hands in hopelessness, their hearts already having been wrung, the Lord came alongside them. When Paul was on trial before the Roman court, and all his friends had deserted him, the Lord came alongside him and strengthened him. In the same manner, He is always coming to us, giving Himself to us, and strengthening us for the conflicts without and within. In the final analysis, He is all we have, and He is all we really need.

How does God comfort us? How does He come to us? He came to Paul through Titus. He may come to us in the same manner, through a friend or through a fellow worker, but it is His coming nonetheless. And that is the secret to victory over both the fightings without and the fears within.

Verse 7 lists the results: they had an earnest desire to see Paul again; they had mourned over their sin; they had rekindled their love for Paul; they had repented and dealt with the offender

Basic Bible Sermons on Handling Conflict No Way to Make a Living

In spite of the fightings and the fears there were fun and fruit and friends and fulfillment.

There will be conflicts and struggles, but they will be minor compared to the joy.

Dont fear the Report because its God who controls the Results. Put the Report in Gods hand.